IRANIAN ACTRESS BRANDAD IMMORAL FOR POSTING PICTURES WITHOUT HIJAB?

TEHERAN, Iran – Sadaf Taherian, an Iranian actress, has caused controversy in her home country by posting pictures of herself on social media not wearing a hijab.

The Iranian government reportedly called her “immoral” and banned her from acting, according to The Telegraph.

Taherian published the photographs on Instagram in protest at strict Iranian laws that require women to cover their head in public.

• “I was nervous and worried about how people would react to my photos,” she said in an interview with Voice of America’s Persian language channel.
• “Remembering my past gave me the confidence to post these photos. I recall visiting many film companies to sign a contract, but I would hear many inappropriate comments about my physical appearance.”

The posts triggered outrage on social media in Iran, with pictures circulating of a hijab having been photoshopped onto her head.

“I did not expect this from the people of Iran, from my own culture — to hear so many insults,” she said.

“I can only feel sorry for their reaction and I have nothing else to say. 
I want to live in a place and live the way that makes me happy.”

Iran’s Ministry of culture reportedly vowed to revoke Taherian’s work licence in an angry television broadcast.

• Taherian, who now hopes to rebuild her career in Dubai also claimed she was regularly a victim of sexual harassment in the Iranian film industry.

Source: – The Telegraph

INDIAN AIRLINE BLOCKS WOMAN IN SHORT DRESS FROM FLIGHT

MUMBAI, India – A female passenger was prevented from boarding a domestic flight in India because she was showing too much leg, the budget carrier IndiGo and newspaper reports said on Thursday.

The woman travelling from the western city of Mumbai to India’s capital New Delhi was not allowed to board Monday’s flight because her dress was too short,the Indian 
Express reported.

• An official at IndiGo, who asked not to be named, told AFP that the dress had stopped above the knee, in violation of rules issued to employees and relatives of staff.
• The woman was formerly employed by the airline and was travelling on a special ticket because her sister worked for the company, the official said.

“Employees and the nominated family members are required to maintain a specific dress code, as and when they fly with the airline under the staff leisure travel privileges,” read an IndiGo statement.

“Keeping in mind this policy, the Mumbai ground staff followed the protocol to brief this passenger on the dress code policy,” it added.

The Indian national changed her attire and was allowed onto a later flight, the official said, stressing that the dress code was 
not for ordinary customers.

Source:–AFP

BRAZILIAN PARADISE ISLAND GOES ON SALE

RIO DE JANEIRO – For Brazilians looking to escape the gloom of recession, political turmoil or even their troubled football team, there’s a paradise island for sale.

Almada island just off Brazil’s coast north of Sao Paulo is in a popular tourist region of idyllic beaches and comes with its own private stretch of sand and a luxury house built in the 1990s.

Now until Nov 3 it’s up for auction, with a starting price of 25 million reais (RM28 million), G1 news site reported Thursday.

The hitch, other than the non-recession friendly price and approximately US$20,000 annual taxes?

The island belongs to the Brazilian navy and “we’re only transferring the usage rights,” the selling agent, Luiz Felipe Azevedo, told G1.

Source:– AFP

WORLD’S FIRST WIRED MANGROVES LAUNCHED IN MALAYSIA

KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia - Communications and Multimedia Minister Datuk Seri Dr Salleh Said Keruak(photo) today launched the world’s first "Connected Mangroves" initiative.

The project would enable mangrove plantation areas to be monitored in real-time through sensorswhich would be planted around the mangrove saplings.

Salleh said the system which could provide critical information such as soil and weather conditions, fire and water levels, has the potential to be expended to other areas.

"As it provides crucial information in real time it will allow local authorities or national governments to use the information for early warning systems such as for flooding, tsunamis and even plantation burning so that they can respond in a clearer manner," he said.
Information compiled through the sensors will be sent directly to a cloud system which stakeholders - including the farmers, analysts, NGOs and local authorities can access.

The project by Ericsson Malaysia, with partners Global Environment Centre and Luimewah (M) Sdn Bhd, was launched in Sabak Bernam, Selangor and is expected to rehabilitate up to 10,000 mangrove seedlings by 2020.

Source: NST

RTM NEWS CREW PUNISHED OVER PHOTO OF MALAYSIAN PM

KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia - The Mandarin news team of state broadcaster RTM has been 'punished' purportedly for airing an unflattering photograph of the prime minister.

According to Chinese news reports, the RTM Mandarin newsreader was made to read the report without any accompanying video footage for the whole 20 minutes of the programme aired at noon today.

RTM's head of Mandarin news Tan Lee Won confirmed to Malaysiakini about the directive banning the Mandarin news team from using any visuals.

Tan said the directive - issued by RTM's management yesterday - took effect today for both its Mandarin news programmes at 12pm and 8pm.

She declined to reveal the reason given, adding that she did not know when the ban will be lifted.

• Sources however claimed the punishment was due to the news team’s usage of a photograph of Prime Minister Najib Abdul Razak in its 8pm broadcast on Tuesday.
• The image was displayed when the RTM Mandarin newsreader was reporting on Najib's successful bid in staying PKR's lawsuit against him for allegedly breaking  general election spending regulations.
• The image, which was produced by Malaysiakini, showed Najib looking down solemnly, with a collage of other photographs related to 1MDB in the background, including a picture of Penang-born billionaire Jho Low.
• Following the 'punishment', the newsreaders on RTM2's noon and 8pm (photo) Mandarin news today were seen reading continuously for the whole of the programme.
• The script for the Mandarin news programme at noon was also not adjusted to deal with the absence of footage, as the newsreader made references to visuals and images which did not appear on the screen.

Meanwhile, Communications and Multimedia Minister Salleh Said Keruak(photo) said he was not aware of any such directive coming from the ministry level.

"I am not aware (of) any instruction from (the) ministry," he told Malaysiakini in a text message.

Source: MK

A MALAYSIAN CAUSES A STIR IN MELBOURNE AUSTRALIA

MELBOURNE, Ausrealia - For some two hours, a shirtless Malaysian who referred to himself as the ‘Messiah’ held siege at the Little Ipoh Restaurant in Melbourne.

Police were called to the restaurant just after 1pm following reports that a man clutching a knife and fork was arguing with staff at the eatery, The Daily Mail reported.

The man charged at officers with his weapon when they arrived and was sprayed with pepper spray before barricading himself inside the Malaysian-owned restaurant - a popular location for busy students and workers in the city centre since 2014.

• Speaking through the window he had smashed using the weapon, members of the Australian special operations group, carrying shields and assault rifles, negotiated from the street with the man, in his 20s,
• He then threw a range of items from the window at police that included apples, oranges and a mobile telephone as he screamed from the window, pleading to speak to his mum and his “missus”.
• Later, he was seen laying down beside the window wearing sunglasses and appeared to take photos of himself on his mobile phone, posing and making gestures towards the media assembled there.

Brandishing a knife, he eventually walked out of the second floor La Trobe Street restaurant just after 3pm, holding his bloodied hands in the air and still ranting as the heavily armed police rushed to him.

The 7News website reported that after being handcuffed by police, he was taken away in an amb­­u­­­lance where he  was treated for cuts  to 
his hands and mentally assessed.

Source: The Star...More...

A WOMAN TO STAND TRIAL FOR ALLEGEDLY RAPING HUSBAND?

SEOUL, South Korea - It hard to believe but a South Korean  woman has been charged with forcing her husband to have sex with her, prosecutors said on Tuesday in the first indictment of its kind in South Korea, Yonhap news agency reported.

The woman, identified only by her surname Shim, locked her husband, surnamed Kim, in their house for 29 hours and forced him to have sex with her, Yonhap said, citing the Seoul Central Prosecutors' Office.

Shim allegedly committed the crime with the aim of obtaining "favourable evidence" for divorce procedures, the prosecutors said according to Yonhap.

South Korea's Supreme Court recognised spousal rape as a crime in May 2013, putting the socially conservative country in line with countries such as the United States, Britain, Germany and France.

Later that month, a 46-year-old man became the first to be convicted of marital rape in the country and was sentenced to 3.5 years' jail, Korean media reported.

• The court also ordered that the man's personal information be made available to the public for seven years, and that he wear an electronic anklet for 10 years after he is released from jail. 

Source: The Straits Times/Asia News Network

MALAYSIAN RINGGIT FALLS AS DEFICIT TARGET MAY BE OUT OF REACH

KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysaia - The ringgit declined the most in a week after Fitch Ratings said the government may miss its 2016 fiscal deficit target as the economy remains under pressure from lower commodity prices.

The shortfall could exceed Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak’s estimate of 3.1% of gross domestic product (GDP), the ratings company said in a statement today.

Fitch estimates the slippage is unlikely to increase Malaysia’s debt ratio, which will remain around 52% of GDP until 2017.

• In Friday’s budget, Najib unveiled plans to raise taxes for high-income earners and accelerate infrastructure development while lowering the deficit from 3.2% in 2015.
• “Fitch didn’t help,” said Vishnu Varathan, a Singapore-based economist at Mizuho Bank Ltd.
• “The worry is that with oil prices looking as soggy as they are and economic headwinds persisting, hopes for uninterrupted fiscal consolidation may be a little overdone.”
• The currency depreciated 0.9%, the most since October 20, to 4.2670 a dollar in Kuala Lumpur, according to prices from local banks compiled by Bloomberg.
• While the ringgit has gained 3.2% this month on fading bets for a US interest-rate increase in 2015, it is still the worst performer in Asia this year as a slump in Brent crude cuts the oil exporting nation’s revenue.
• The Bloomberg Commodity Index of 22 raw materials from oil to metals fell for a fifth day, headed for the longest stretch of declines in two months.

Fitch raised the outlook on Malaysia’s A- rating, the fourth-lowest investment grade, in June after earlier warning of a downgrade due to a deterioration in the nation’s finances.

Sovereign bonds rose, with the 10-year yield falling two basis points to 4.1%, the lowest since August 5, according to prices from Bursa Malaysia.

Source: – Bloomberg

2003 IRAQ INVASION PLAYED ROLE IN ISLAMIC STATE RISE?

Former British Prime Minister Tony Blair acknowledged the 2003 invasion of Iraq played a part in the rise of the Islamic State militant group, and apologized for some mistakes in planning the war, in an interview broadcast on Sunday.

Blair's decision to send troops to back the U.S.-led invasion is still a live political issue in Britain, where a six-year public inquiry into the conflict is yet to publish its findings.

Asked whether the offensive was the principal cause of the rise of Islamic State, which now controls large areas of Iraq and neighboring Syria, Blair said there were "elements of truth" in that.

• "Of course, you can't say that those of us who removed (former Iraqi dictator) Saddam (Hussein) in 2003 bear no responsibility for the situation in 2015," Blair told U.S. network CNN.
• Critics say the U.S. decision to disband Saddam Hussein’s army after the invasion created a huge security vacuum exploited by al Qaeda, which was eventually replaced by Islamic State.
• Some former Iraqi army officers, members of the Sunni Muslim minority which says it has been marginalized by the Shi’ite-led government backed by Western powers, are senior strategists in Islamic State. The Iraqi government says it has not marginalized Sunnis.
• Blair said the "Arab Spring" uprisings across the region also affected Iraq, and pointed out that Islamic State had risen out of a base in Syria, not Iraq.

Blair apologized for what he described as mistakes in planning and intelligence before the war and in preparations for would happen once Saddam was removed, but said it had been the right decision.

"We have tried intervention and putting down troops in Iraq; we've tried intervention without putting in troops in Libya; and we've tried no intervention at all but demanding regime change in Syria. It's not clear to me that, even if our policy did not work, subsequent policies have worked better," he said.

"I find it hard to apologize  for  removing Saddam. I think, even  from  today in 2015, it  is 
better that he's  not  there than 
that he is there."

Source: Reuters

WORLD WOULD BE ABETTER PLACE IF SADDAM, GADDAFI STILL IN POWER?

WASHINGTON, U.S.A. - The world would be a better place if dictators such as Saddam Hussein and Muammar Gaddafi were still in power, top Republican US presidential hopeful Donald Trump said in comments aired on Sunday.

The billionaire real estate tycoon also told CNN's "State of the Union" talk show that the Middle East "blew up" around US President Barack Obama and former secretary of state Hillary Clinton, his biggest Democratic rival in the race for the White House.

"100 per cent," Trump said when asked if the world would be better off with Hussein and Gaddafi  still at the helm in Iraq
and Libya.

Both strongmen committed atrocities against their own people and are now dead. Saddam, the former Iraqi president, was toppled in the 2003 US-led invasion of Iraq and was executed in 2006.

Gaddafi — who ruled Libya for four decades — was ousted and slain in October 2011.

"People are getting their heads chopped off. They're being drowned. Right now it's far worse than ever under Saddam Hussein or Gaddafi," Trump said.

"I mean, look what happened. Libya is a catastrophe. Libya is a disaster. Iraq is a disaster. Syria is a disaster. The whole Middle East. It all blew up around Hillary Clinton and around Obama. It blew up."

Calling Iraq the "Harvard of terrorism," Trump said the country had turned into a "training ground for terrorists."

"If you look at Iraq from years ago, I'm not saying he (Saddam) was a nice guy. He was a horrible guy but it's better than it is now," Trump said.

Trump said his foreign policy strategy would be centered around beefing up the US military.

"All I know is this: we're living in Medieval times ... We're living in an unbelievably dangerous and horrible world," Trump said.

"The Trump doctrine is simple," he added. "It's strength. It's strength. Nobody is going to mess with us. Our military will be made stronger."

Source: The Times Of India

DRONES TO CIRCLE AUSTRALIA BEACHES TO MONITOR SHARKS

SYDNEY, Australia - Drones will circle popular swimming spots in eastern Australia and "listening stations" track tagged sharks as part of a new strategy announced Sunday to keep beachgoers safe after a spate of bloody attacks.

The country has one of the world's highest incidences of shark attacks with 13 in New South Wales this year leaving one dead and seven injured, threatening the beach tourism industry.

In response the nation's most populous state, which has ruled out culling sharks, unveiled a five-year plan to address the issue, including next-generation sonar systems and boosted aerial surveillance.

• The state's primary industries minister Niall Blair said the multi-faceted approach followed advice from experts attending a recent shark summit in Sydney and community consultation.
• "We are proud to be the first jurisdiction anywhere in the world to adopt an integrated approach toward keeping our beaches safe," he said.

The wide-ranging AUD16 million (RM49.13 million) plan to protect swimmers and surfers, while minimizing harm to sharks, will see the trial of drones to provide real-time vision, while boosting helicopter surveillance.

The tagging of sharks will be stepped up, sonar detecting buoys deployed and 20 "listening stations" built at known hot spots using 4G technology to allow tagged animals to be monitored.

Source: The Sun Daily

RM3 BILLION CASH INJECTION REQUEST FROM M’SIAN CABINET SHOWED 1MDB IN DEPTH OF TROUBLES?

Former deputy prime minister Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin(photo) today said he realized the seriousness of 1Malaysia Development Berhad's (1MDB) controversy after the debt laden firm sought a RM3 billion cash injection from the Cabinet earlier this year, which was rejected.

"That was when I realized how serious this was. They just received RM2 billion from Tan Sri Ananda Krishnan(photo) and now they were seeking RM3 billion from the cabinet," Muhyiddin said in his speech during a "Bicara Minda" dialogue organised by publisher Karangkraf and Sinar Harian in Johor Baru today.

• Muhyiddin, who was dropped as Datuk Seri Najib Razak's deputy in July, said he expressed his concerns to the prime minister after seeing the proposal.
• Najib is also the finance minister and chairman of 1MDB's advisory board.
• "They just took on more debts to settle previous debts, it was like a mountain of debts, layers after layers," Muhyiddin said.
• The Malaysian Insider had also reported in February that the RM3 billion cash injection sought by 1MDB from the cabinet was rejected.

Muhyiddin in his speech described 1MDB not as a sovereign wealth fund, but a "sovereign debt fund".

The Finance Ministry-owned firm, meant to be a strategic investor and a catalyst for new development, is now undergoing a restructuring exercise to shave off its debts.

Source: The Malaysian Insider...More...

MALDIVES VICE PRESIDENT ARRESTED OVER PLOT TO ASSASSINATE THE PRESIDENT

MALE, Maldives - The vice-president of the Maldives has been arrested in connection with an alleged plot to assassinate the president, say police and officials.

Ahmed Adeeb(photo) was in detention and being charged with high treason, Home Minister Umar Naseer said on Twitter.

President Abdulla Yameen(photo) narrowly escaped injury when a blast struck the boat he was using to return home from the airport late last month.

In recent years, the Maldives has been rocked by political infighting.

Mr Yameen's election has been the subject of drawn-out wrangling.

Security has been tightened in the capital Male amid fears of "turmoil" triggered by the arrest, says the Maldivian newspaper Haveeru.

Three others were also arrested on Saturday - including a former member of Adeeb's security detail and a member of the army's bomb squad, Associated Press news agency reported.

Source: BBC...More...